Tag: Stucco Finishes in Enterprise

How Do You Select the Best Stucco Repair Company in Enterprise?

So you’ve made the decision to have stucco applied to your home. Or, maybe you just need a repair. Either way, you’ll need to look up stucco contractors in Enterprise so that the project can be completed. You may be tempted to just open up a phone book and call the first contractor with a big ad, but that is not the way to go. Just about anyone can take out an ad, and having a larger one only means that they spent a little more money on advertising. Like any other skilled trade, learning how to apply stucco is not only an art but a science as well. Having the proper insurance, bonding, employees, portfolio of satisfied clients and ethical business practices should be the criteria you base hiring a contractor on. Doing an initial background check on a potential contractor now will save you copious amounts of work later.

First, you need to establish exactly what your project will entail. Then you need to contact a few contractors and ask them for a cost quote. It’s a good idea to let them know right away that you are going to be speaking to several contractors to see what their bids are. This can save you time when trying to negotiate a good price. Throw in some terminology about your specific project if you can. You will appear to be more knowledgeable than the average customer, so you will be less likely to be taken advantage of. Once you have gotten a few quotes, look for the median price. A good contractor will price fairly. Too low of a price may indicate an inexperienced contractor, while a high price may be a predatory contractor. Find the three or four contractors that are close to the median price and contact them for more information.

Qualified stucco contractors will have up to date insurance and licensing. This information will either be on hand, or in their office. Asking to view or make a copy of their paperwork is neither rude nor uncommon. If a contractor acts insulted or repeatedly gives excuses as to why the paperwork cannot be produced, you probably shouldn’t do business with them. Whether these are stalling tactics or they are just really unorganized, they are indicators of an unprofessional business person.

Interesting Facts About Stucco Nobody Has Ever Told You

Stucco is a functional and aesthetic material used for a variety of construction projects. It often is used to spruce up the look of a bland-looking concrete foundation. The proximity of the foundation to the ground, however, makes it susceptible to the accumulation of water and dampness. This often leads to crumbling and an unsightly mess outside your home. Thankfully, you can repair and restore the stucco siding easily.

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Reasons Why You Should Use Stucco Siding

There are three common types of stucco finishes you might choose from when applying the exterior wall to your home. These finishes include wet dashes, dry dashes, and float finishes.

The wet dashes include many different variations of stucco finishes you might choose to apply to your home. These finishes include the rough cast, pebble dash, spatter dash, broom dash, and even the sand dash. The pebble dash or the rough cast is simple to obtain by throwing the mixture on to the wall by using a paddle. The mixture will include grout and pebbles. You will throw the mixture against the fresh coat of mortar.

The spatter dash can be obtained in a similar fashion but instead using a thinner mixture of cement and coarse sand. Some people choose to use stone screenings instead of sand. This mixture is dashed against the mortar. The sand spray and the broom dash mixtures are used by actually applying the mixture to the mortar by using a long fiber brush or a whisk broom. You do not throw the mixture but apply it. The reason these finishes are called wet finishes is because you apply the finish to the mortar while it is still fresh.

The dry dash stucco finish is another common finish people prefer on their house. When obtaining the dry dash look, you will throw clean pebbles, pieces of shell, or even stone chips against the mortar right before it is hardened. It is important to try to uniformly distribute the mixture across the wall so the outcome looks nice. In most cases, you will have to push the pieces of rock into place by using drywall finishing tools like a float. However, you should not rub the surface once the pieces are embedded into the mortar. The dry dash is a more difficult finish to apply because it takes more time and you have to be more careful to evenly distribute the rocks and pebbles.

Float stucco finishes are another popular option to use on the exterior wall of a home. This type of finish is accomplished by applying the coating once the mortar has begun to harden. This type of finish requires a thin finish coat and needs to be straightened before you begin floating. Once the stucco has begun to stiffen, water needs to be dashed on the surface with a brush. Float finishes are performed by professional workmen with experience and skill. Not many homeowners attempt to do this type of finish on their home.

There are three different types of stucco finishes you might choose from if you are looking for a new siding for the exterior of your home. These types of finishes include wet dashes, dry dashes, and float finishes. Wet and dry dashes are the most common if you are thinking of performing this project on your own. If you would like a float finish on the outside of your home and you have never done this before then you might consider hiring a professional to assist you.

The Benefits Of Stucco Installation At Homes

If your home improvement project involves stucco in Enterprise, you will want to be sure you find the right contractor for the job. It is always important to hire good contractors, but it is especially important when they will be doing work such as stucco installation, which is not as common as other contracting duties. You need to work with a people who know how do to the job properly, so you can be sure it will get done right the first time.

When you get the bids, make sure to ask if the work will be guaranteed once it is completed. A quality stucco contractorwill stand firmly behind their work, so don’t hesitate to ask this question. If the labor and material are not covered by some form of guarantee, you should quickly move on to the next bid. There are plenty of contractors out there who are willing to stand behind their work, so there is no reason to work with one who isn’t.

Stucco can be messy business. Make sure there is a plan in place to protect the rest of your property from the mess that can be made when stucco is put in. You don’t want to be left with a huge cleanup project after your contractor has left the job site, so ask specific questions as to how they will keep the rest of your property as clean as possible.

Hiring a stucco contractordoesn’t need to be a long and drawn out process, as long as you know what you are looking for from the start. Use the points above to guide your search, and only hire a contractor once you are fully satisfied that they are the perfect selection for the work that you need completed.

The History and Benefits of Stucco

When fall inevitably comes each year, home owners who have been "thinking about" renovating their home with stucco suddenly realize they're running out of time, and give their contractor(s) a call. All of them. The resulting mayhem is an influx of home owners requesting a contractor do their home before winter so that they can enjoy their new beautiful home's look and increased energy efficiency. The contractors who make most of their money during the summer, begin to quicken the pace to accommodate this work before winter, often at the expense of quality. Each stucco construction project is not given it's due diligence, and critical portions of work are ignored such as contracts, weather barriers, proper surface leveling, warranties. Even not so "critical" but finishing aspects such as proper moulding selection is often ignored.

The average stucco construction renovation will take about 3 weeks, with a 2 week lead time. This can all be expedited with an experienced project manager, but most home owners opt to do the managing themselves, sometimes naively. With 5 full weeks required from the time you SCHEDULE the contractor, you really need to start looking for prices about 7 weeks in advance. Generally, the stucco construction season (for Toronto) will end towards the end of October. This means that if you're not looking at the beginning of September, you need to exercise a degree of caution about getting your project done before temperatures drop below acceptable levels. EIFS manufacturer guidelines state:

Do not proceed with application of base coat and/or finish coat at ambient air temperatures below 5C (41F)

Applying the material in these temperatures may cause it not to cure properly, resulting in improper adherence to the substrate, and subsequent delamination - in English, your walls could fall off. The weather can't be blamed for all problems though, and you do need to pay attention to make sure your contractor is doing all the layers properly. No weather barrier means that water can get onto your substrate. Adhesive not being done in vertical channels means that water can become trapped against the substrate. Not meshing styrofoam fully can mean cracks developing, and water infiltrating your walls. Not mixing the base coat in the proper ratios or applying it too thin can result in a weak and easily damaged wall surface. Not spending enough time "floating" (troweling) the finish coat can result in discrepancies in the texture, which really just looks awful. Having a third party project manager or home inspector come once or twice a week to inspect the quality of work for a few hundred dollars is very inexpensive compared to having to rip the stucco off your walls and redo it in 5 years.

Aside from application problems, you want to ensure you give yourself enough time to really think about what you want for this project. Too many home owners take the first, cheapest guy they find and go ahead without a contract, resulting in them not knowing exactly what is "included", and a lot of "extras". Doing your due diligence includes researching items you need included with your project, such as flashing, replacing old substrate, whether a weather barrier is required or not, in what order to proceed with renovations... the list goes on. In short, don't go into a project without being fairly confident you know you have the details worked out, and use a contract to clarify those details.

Even moldings are sometimes not given their due consideration. Proper molding selection will help manage water runoff, further protecting your walls. They can direct water away from window openings - which tend to be the most susceptible to water damage, and kick water off the walls - preventing the black or white water streaks you often see below window sills. Using a wall band at the base of a high traffic wall can protect your wall from being hit by snow shovels, moving furniture and even cars. The same protective quality can be said of quoins or pilasters on the corners of your wall.

When renovating your home, it's important to focus on more than just the initial cost of stucco construction. You need to do your research to ensure you don't get "ripped off", and you need think about future maintenance. If you can't realistically put in the time to make sure you have everything included, get multiple estimates, have a contract made, and think about how to reduce future maintenance costs, you are better off waiting until spring to have your project completed. You will lose 1 winter of lowered heating costs, but prevent thousands of dollars in possible damage.

How to Fix a Stucco Wall

Stucco weatherproofs and hides an exterior brick wall's imperfections. Stucco, a cement-based wall covering, bonds to the brick's pores and fills its mortar joints. An exterior brick wall covered with stucco uses a base coat and a finish coat. The base coat, sometimes called a scratch coat, protects the brick wall from the elements and provides a smooth surface for the finish coat. The finish coat gives the stucco its texture. Before applying stucco to a brick wall, repair all damaged brick mortar and reinstall any loose bricks.

Resources

Portland Cement Association: Stucco FAQ's

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